After disembarking from our good Alruna in Basel, we took an enjoyable bus ride through the Swiss countryside to our last stop in Luzern. On the way to the hotel once we entered the city, we made a quick stop at a sightseeing highlight: the Lion Monument/Löwendenkmal:
It honors the Swiss Guards who were killed during the French Revolution (their names are carved into the stone below the lion). To be sure, they were defending the wrong side of history, but they stayed loyal to their posts, and that's what the Swiss find admirable. And it's a lovely monument, with the amazing sculpture you see here set back from a peaceful pool. Here's a closeup of the lion, so you can better appreciate the artistry that gives it such a personality:
The monument is in a part of town that's too far from the other tourist areas to be included in the walking tour we took after dropping off our bags at the hotel. Our Viking guide, excellent as usual, gave us a good overview of the areas around the Reuss River and the lake on this walk. He offered suggestions for activities to pursue on our own, as well as a first-rate dining recommendation (more on this later).
A couple of the sights we visited on the tour were two impressive churches on and near the river. One was prominently featured in one of my previous posts. Right on the river is the marvelously baroque Jesuit Church, with its twin onion domes, right next to the Kapellbrücke. Here's a shot of the interior:
Not far away is the much older, though not as flashy, Franciscan Church. It also has a handsome interior, just not as gaudy as its neighbor:
After our orientation, one of the sights we particularly wanted to take in on our own was an exploration of at least part of the city's medieval wall. Apparently it has nine towers on its entire length; we were only able to see a few of them. (I think the wall isn't continuous anymore, so we only saw one section.) But walking along the wall afforded wonderful views (like the one at the top of this post). Here's the view along the wall:
And here are two of the towers we saw, only one of which I was able to identify from the article I linked above:
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| Zyt Tower; the clock is big enough to be seen from the lake |
The elaborate illustration on this tower was imitated on some of the regular buildings in the old city, too:
Another decorative motif that I noticed all over town (at least the parts of the town we were able to take in during our brief stay) was the blue and white stripes that you can see here. This was a building Henry and I saw on our post-dinner stroll on our first night in town.
Since the Swiss flag is red and white, I puzzled about this color scheme for a while before deciding it must be emblematic of Luzern's canton (what Swiss districts, or counties, are called). And sure enough, Wikipedia verified this for me.
We figured we couldn't go wrong by eating there after our Mt. Pilatus adventure on day 2. This time we were a little more adventurous and I ordered the specialty of the house: Luzerne Chügelipastetli. The menu provided a description of the dish: puff pastry filled with veal and mushrooms, and it tasted as good as it sounded (and as it looks):
Our evening stroll around the lake ended up with another (un-pictured) first-class meal, this one with an even less-touristy feel. I had some of the best Kartoffelsalat I've ever had from a food truck in the park. (That's potato salad, and I am something of a connoisseur.) Yes, the quality of Luzern's food matches the quality of its scenery, which is high praise indeed!
I hope you've enjoyed these posts covering our second Viking adventure. Sitting in 100° San Antonio as I write them, the whole trip seems almost like it was a dream. I will be taking another trip soon to cooler climes and I look forward to telling you about it.
